Coated articles include transparent substrates (e.g., glass substrates) that support coatings on one or more major surfaces thereof. The coatings used in such articles may be functional coatings provided for any number of different reasons. For example, low-emissivity (low-E), solar control, low maintenance, antimicrobial, antireflection (AR), antiglare, and other types of coatings are becoming more and more prevalent in a variety of residential, commercial, vehicle, electronic, and other applications. These coatings may be formed using a variety of different techniques such as, for example, magnetron sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), combustion deposition, a wet coating technique (such as spin, dip, or other coating technique), etc.
There is a growing demand from end consumers for coated articles. For instance, low-E, solar control, low maintenance, and other types of sputter-deposited or other coatings, can be highly efficient, help buildings conform to energy and/or other standards, etc.
Unfortunately, however, it oftentimes is difficult for end consumers to know, with a suitable level of certainty, that there is in fact a “special” coating applied to one or more surfaces of a coated article. For example, a homeowner might not be able to verify that a low-E coating is formed on a purchased and installed window, that an antimicrobial coating is formed on a shower door, etc. In the majority of cases, the glass coating is so thin (e.g., having a thickness of less than a micron and often times less than a few hundred nanometers) and highly transparent that it is very difficult for end consumers to detect. Even industry specialists can have a difficult time detecting whether there is a coating present without the use of an additional tool (such as a “coating detector” or “spectrophotometers”). Such tools are quite expensive and would not be used by end consumers. Moreover, although some industry specialists may have them, installation crews typically will not have them either.
Thus, it will be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a reliable coating detection and recognition technique that does not necessarily require significant investments into equipment and is available to a broad spectrum of users (including end consumers), worldwide.
Certain example embodiments relate to an electronic coating detection and recognition system comprising a camera. Processing resources include at least one processor and a memory coupled thereto, with the memory tangibly storing instructions that, when performed by the processing resources, at least: capture, using the camera, an image and/or video of an article onto which a source light is shown, the captured image and/or video including source light reflections associated with each major surface of the article; identify a region for each of the source light reflections; calculate a color coordinate characterization for each of the identified source light reflections; detect and recognize any coatings formed on the major surfaces of the article by comparing (a) the calculated color coordinate characterizations and/or changes between calculated color coordinate characterizations to (b) information stored in a database that is backed by a computer readable storage medium and that includes records of known color coordinate characterizations and/or known changes between color coordinate characterizations for each of a plurality of different known coatings; and responsive to the detection and recognition of one or more coatings, cause output to be generated, the output indicating the major surface(s) on which each said detected and recognized coating is formed and an identifier of each said detected and recognized coating.
Certain example embodiments relate to an electronic coating detection and recognition system comprising a camera. Processing resources include at least one processor and a memory coupled thereto, with the memory tangibly storing instructions that, when performed by the processing resources, at least: capture, using the camera, an image and/or video of an article onto which a source light is shown, the captured image and/or video including source light reflections associated with each major surface of the article; and transmit, over a network connection, the captured image and/or video to a remote computer system. The transmission causes the remote computer system to: receive the captured image and/or video; calculate a color coordinate characterization for each of the source light reflections in the received captured image and/or video; detect and recognize any coatings formed on the major surfaces of the article by comparing (a) the calculated color coordinate characterizations and/or changes between calculated color coordinate characterizations to (b) information stored in a data store of the remote computer system that includes records of known color coordinate characterizations and/or known changes between color coordinate characterizations for each of a plurality of different known coatings; and responsive to the detection and recognition of one or more coatings, cause output to be generated, the output indicating the major surface(s) on which each said detected and recognized coating is formed and an identifier of each said detected and recognized coating.
Certain example embodiments relate to an electronic coating detection and recognition system comprising a camera. Processing resources include at least one processor and a memory coupled thereto, with the memory tangibly storing instructions that, when performed by the processing resources, at least: receive a captured image and/or video of an article onto which a source light is shown, the captured image and/or video including source light reflections associated with each major surface of the article; calculate a color coordinate characterization for each of the source light reflections in the received captured image and/or video; enable detection and recognition of any coatings formed on the major surfaces of the article by comparing (a) the calculated color coordinate characterizations and/or changes between calculated color coordinate characterizations to (b) information stored in a data store, the data store including records of known color coordinate characterizations and/or known changes between color coordinate characterizations for each of a plurality of different known coatings; and responsive to the detection and recognition of one or more coatings, cause output to be generated, the output indicating the major surface(s) on which each said detected and recognized coating is formed, an identifier of each said detected and recognized coating, a likelihood associated with the detection and recognition of each said detected and recognized coating, and an indication of any likely uncoated surfaces.
Methods for using and/or configuring these and/or other systems also are contemplated herein. Similarly, non-transitory computer readable storage media tangibly storing instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor, perform these and/or other methods also are contemplated herein.
The features, aspects, advantages, and example embodiments described herein may be combined to realize yet further embodiments.